Now
we do things so simply at home, I love it even more. We give a gift from our
household to our very old grandmother and to the two small grandchildren. Other
than that, no gifts; and we send very few cards.

Some
of us like to decorate the house, so they do, and I have a beautiful Nativity
set.

On
Christmas Eve I do a children’s service for the littlies in the Methodist
church just across the valley from our house. We sing carols with friends
outside the supermarket.

On
Christmas Day, we eat something nice, but no greater amount than normal, and
nothing expensive. We keep it simple.

And
this year, I am trying a new kind of Advent calendar.

Our
present UK national administration is harsh and greedy, violent and unkind.
Very warlike, very hard on the poor and disabled. This winter, many more have
been made homeless, reduced to abject poverty, lost the financial support from
the government they needed to manage. The call on help from food banks has
drastically increased.

So
every day through Advent it’s my plan to walk along to the supermarket and buy
something for the food bank box put out there. As I walk along, I will pray for
the people who are hungry and desperate, worried and frightened, unable to pay
their bills. And for everyone who is homeless or a refugee.

And
I will think about Mary and Joseph walking through Advent to Bethlehem; where
there was no room and they had to sleep in a stable, from where they fled
persecution and became refugees.

It’s
only a small plan, but a happy one I think.

* * * * * * *

* Image at the top is The people that walked in darkness by Hebe Wilcock.

Saturday, 26 November 2016

Today,
November 26th 2016, there’s a synchronized action for Standing Rock,
a global gathering for prayer, at 3.00pm Central time, 9.00pm Greenwich
Meantime. I'll copy and paste the info from the Facebook page below.

Join us, wherever you are in the world, on Saturday November 26th at 3pm Central Time, 2pm Mountain Time, 9pm GMT

Using the word 'Prayer', rather than 'meditation' or something similar, is a native led request. Standing Rock is a prayer camp. You can pray in whatever way is appropriate for you. You don't have to be religious. You can follow your heart. Prayer can also mean taking action on the ground, but in asacred way.

Pray for Standing Rock has been approved by the Tribal Council at Standing Rock and we wish, as allies, to respect and support the native leadership and be inclusive of their participation.

Then, on December 10 (United Nations Human Rights Day), join us along with Chief Phil Lane and many other traditional leaders for a Global Wopida. Wopida is a Dakota word that means "giving of gifts, and thank you".

38
miles of the North Dakota pipeline transporting oil across America goes through
Native American tribal lands – including sacred burial land. And the Native
Americans don’t want it, because the pipelines leak and split – always; there
are more than 500 such incidents a year with existing pipelines – causing
horrendous and lasting ecological damage and associated human suffering. If the
pipeline leaks into the Missouri, the damage will be unthinkable.

So
the various Native American tribes along with many other supporters, have
united at Standing Rock to protect the waters of the land, as well as the land
itself and the creatures (including human) that depend on it, against this
peril. Access to clean water and clean air is vital to life.

The
water protectors have met with state violence deployed on behalf of business
interest on a massive scale. The stand (this is not a ‘protest’; the land does
actually belong to the tribal peoples) has been nonviolent and peaceful; but
the state response has been violent. The water protectors have been teargassed,
peppersprayed, beaten with wood batons, arrested and locked in dog cages, shot
with rubber bullets, wounded with concussion grenades, hosed from water canons
in sub-freezing temperatures. And still they stand, hundreds coming to join
them.

We
live in times when cruelty and greed feel free to appear in flagrant
manifestation, the poor and vulnerable abandoned and fleeced, the earth raped
and pillaged, the rich indifferent and arrogant. We can identify many profound
and intransigent problems, so much that is destructive and frightening. But if
there were three things against which we should take a stand, I’d say dirty
technology, violence and corporate greed are the ones. The other things (like
the selling off of our health service and the removal of financial support for
vulnerable people in the UK) we can, if necessary, unite to tackle by ingenious
local means. But if the land is fracked, we all are. If the water and air are
poisoned, we all are. A National Health Service is of little use if there’s no
water left to drink and all the animals and plants are dying, or there’s
radioactive muck pouring into the sea as there is in Japan, or bombs are
thundering down as they are on Aleppo.

So
today I invite you to join me and thousands of others around the world, as we
come together to pray according to our own custom, for the situation at
Standing Rock.

I
shall be praying in the mighty Name of Jesus that the pipeline will not only
never pass through those sacred lands, but that it will be abandoned
altogether. I’ll be praying for an end to dirty technology and for the rise of
clean technology dependent on the sun, wind and waves. I’ll be praying for
humankind as we face the turbulence and terror of what we have set in motion in
climate change. I’ll be praying for peace to radiate from my life and yours and
the life of everyone praying, for an end to human violence and the coming of
God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I’ll be praying for the safety and
protection of the water protectors, for the wellbeing of North Dakota, and
calling on God to remember his covenant with the Earth and come to her rescue.
I’ll be praying for those who have put themselves at the service of violence
who are caught in a trap of slavish obedience, required to beat and harass and
hurt their fellow human beings by greedy corporations and complicit government.
I’ll be blessing them with the love of the Lord, over and over, letting His
blessing soak and rinse through them to loosen and dissolve violence and
blindness. And for this whole situation I’ll be praying over and over the Ho’oponopono
Prayer: I love you, I’m sorry, please
forgive me, thank you – the mantra for healing and cleansing.

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An Inspiration

‘Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’

(Deuteronomy 2.27-28, 29b NIV UK)

To get in touch with Pen Wilcock

If you would like to communicate with me personally, you can do so by leaving a comment on this blog giving your email address. I will delete the comment (I will never publish a comment containing your contact details) and get in touch with you so you then have my email address.

All comments left here come to me at my regular email address, and I read each one before publishing it; there is no danger of a private message being published by an automated system.

Don't worry if you don't hear straight away after sending a comment. I check my emails most days as I'm online researching as I write books, but I do go away sometimes!

God bless you. I will have prayed for you if you read here, even if I do not know your name. May you walk in the way of blessing. May the light of Christ be your joy and your guide.

Pen

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The Hawk and the Dove vol.1

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